SG Market

SG Market: Spore shares are likely to see cautious trading ahead of the US supercommittee meeting this Wed to deal with the US budget deficit but with both political parties still squabbling, prospects for an agreement are getting doubtful, which may throw global markets off the high wire again.

The upward revision in Spore’s 3Q GDP growth to 6.1%, faster than the 5.9% reported earlier is not expected to give the local market a lift in view of the tepid 1-3% growth projection for 2012. What is more disconcerting is that the forecast does not even factor in potential downside risks such as a worsening debt situation or a full blown financial crisis in the developed economies. Separately, IE Spore also cut its forecast for Spore's non-oil domestic exports growth in 2011 to 2-3%, from 6-7% previously. For 2012, the govt agency expects non-oil domestic exports to grow 3%-5%.

In corporate, both ST Engrg and STX OSV may see some interest after announcing shipbuilding contracts for OSVs ($441m) and LPG carriers ($536m) respectively. SingTel will face some pressure after the office of its Indian associate Bharti was raided by Indian police.